Notebooks

Notebooks are snapshots from our writers, reflecting on current affairs and underappreciated aspects of culture and history.

A poster of the Red Army Faction from the German Federal Criminal Office.
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Germany’s 1960s slide into political violence is a warning

Today's disruptive protests are non-violent, so far. The West German experience of the late 1960s shows what can happen when marches and sit-ins escalate.

Elisabeth Braw December 16, 2022
Sunset over Mount Everest.
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Sharing Everest a tall order

The peaks and troughs of Nepal’s and China’s competing claims to the world’s highest mountain.

Amish Raj Mulmi December 13, 2022
Lviv National Opera and Ballet Theatre.
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Show goes on for Ukrainian opera

Ukrainian artists are bravely defending their heritage, tradition and culture against an outside aggressor.

Gerald Malone December 12, 2022
Muscovites queue up outside a shop selling milk and dairy products in Moscow during difficult economic times just before the dissolution of the USSR.
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Soviet socialism was no good at groceries

The collapse of the Soviet Union has been forensically studied by academics and economists for decades, but for an insight into the day-to-day life of ordinary Russians in the 1980..

Catherine Merridale December 8, 2022
A message is received at the palace, a print painted in Ming dynasty China. Credit: Chronicle of World History / Alamy Stock Photo.
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The Chinese spying game has a long history

Alongside Confucian ideals of exemplary leadership, the Chinese tradition nurtured an equally influential alternative figura: that of the commander or strategist bent on conquering..

Roel Sterckx December 8, 2022
Caricature of Nouvelle Cuisine arranged by the chef.
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Nouvelle Cuisine made food better

The French cooking revolution may have hastened the decline of haute cuisine but it brought better, more democratic dining to the table.

Lincoln Allison December 5, 2022
German troops marching through Russia during the First World War.
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When the fighting stops, what then?

The history of the closing stages of the First World War offers no easy lessons to Ukraine if it seeks a path to peace.

Beatrice Heuser December 2, 2022
Engelsberg mansion
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Hiring – new opportunities at Engelsberg Ideas

Engelsberg Ideas, the groundbreaking editorial project run by Reaction for the Axel and Margaret Ax:son Johnson Foundation, is hiring for its continued expansion in 2023.

Iain Martin November 30, 2022
The Strahov public library in Prague.
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Business burble doesn’t beat real historical understanding

Corinne Maier's far-sighted satirical take on noughties corporate culture has powerful lessons for our age of scandal, scamming and shallowness.

Alastair Benn November 30, 2022

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